ST KILDA's High Performance camp in Queenstown is coming to a close with players recording over 100kms of running over the 10 day period, through gut busting skills sessions, sprints and hiking.
The final challenging hurdle for the trip was a five hour, 17km, steep hike through the Arrowtown peaks where players were forced uphill most of the way and had to climb down almost vertical hillside terrain.
“What it provided was exactly what I was after, given we’ve had an intense ten days here and I just really wanted to throw something at them that was going to challenge them mentally and physically,” High Performance Manager Adam Basil told SAINTS.com.au.
“It’s no surprise to me that the majority of the players said it was one, if not the hardest, hike they’ve ever done. We certainly wanted to challenge them.”
Another early start saw the players rise at 5am to tackle the monstrous climb with most exhausted after completing the task.
“We were climbing up for in excess of 40 – 45 mins so it was tough on the legs, it was tough mentally but the terrain certainly provided those challenges. It was great to see how they took it on board and pushed through it,” Basil said.
“We haven’t had a day off since they arrived and certainly today was one of those days where it provided a challenge to the players off the back of ten days of training. We’ve really pushed the players to see what they can cope with, push them outside their comfort zone and they’ve done really well. We really hit some numbers on the GPS that we were after even above and beyond those. They’ve really shown their professionalism in getting up for sessions.”
Basil said the team has been firmly focused on increasing its endurance and sprinting capacity.
“We want to become an elite running team. We understand to get to where we want to get to, that’s a big part of our game plan and the program since they’ve been back and since they’ve been here in Queenstown that has been reflected which has been pleasing to see.”
The training sessions have been hours longer than usual in a bid to entrench the game plan into the younger players and build a base fitness.
“Some of the skills sessions have been going for in excess of three and a half hours so we’re hitting 15km or more (on the GPS). On top of that, we’re doubling up with intense hill sessions as well so we’re hitting some high GPS numbers but that’s the reason why we’re here," Basil said.
“We’re here to train hard, to work our backsides off, to get the results we expect of them."
“It’s really set the standard for those younger players because this is what we expect of them. We want to be a team that can run well and run out games well and we’ll continue that program heading into the New Year.”
The high performance team is confident it has built the foundations for the players to be in top shape come the 2015 season after putting them through their paces and pushing them beyond their expectations.
“For me it’s about players really extracting the most out of themselves and not leaving anything out there – which is what they’re doing,” he said.
“I’m really proud of how they’ve handled it, they haven’t whinged and they’re really embracing it.
“More importantly, they’re working together to get all of their teammates through the training sessions cause they’re quite demanding.”
The team flies back to Melbourne on Saturday and will undertake one more week of training before the Christmas break, including another 2km time trial to see the benefits of the camp.
